Long time no build log update, I am about 5 bikes behind! Life has been a bit of a rollercoaster lately with some post concussion syndrome issues (ironically not mountain biking related) and a change of employment, things seem to be getting back to normal now.
Pi Bike number 6. The town bicycle. I made this as my version of a road bike, with some crossover to gravel bike/inappropriate xc riding. Also the jig was empty so I partially just made it for the enjoyment of making a thing.
I have never gotten into road riding really, I’m entirely uncomfortable with open road traffic zooming by but I often ride in the city with friends to go out for a meal or go for a ride along the river trails. As such I had no idea what I wanted out a road/gravel bike but all my spare bits and bobs are MTB standards so I decided just to use those. It also ended up with a Kona P2 fork off my wife’s unit because thats what I had available.
It’s straight gauge 035 tubing with 1/2 seatstays 3/4" chainstays, 1 1/4 downtube and seatube, 1" top tube. I made a seat binder and collar on the lathe and did dropped seatstays cause thats what all the cool kids are doing on their grav bikes. Its pretty flexy which is actually quite nice for cruising around, probably not so great if you were racing/trying to be fast. I finished it in boiled linseed oil and it has been holding up pretty well, even after riding it on the beach the other day. It had done a few laps of the local XC track as well, with extra care taken not to pop the tyres
The frame itself is a little porky for a roadbike frame at 2.1kg, I can’t remember what the whole bike weight is, it’s not light by roadie standards. Anyways, as is always the case, you don’t know what you don’t know. Riding wise the geo is good, but fit wise for me the stack is too low for comfort causing hand fatigue on longer rides plus the fork looks a bit weird and I have another use for it so this bike is slated for replacement and town bicycle mk2 is in the build queue probably with more ATB-esque geo.
